Heather. 27. ATL
Former quitter. Runner. Heavy Lifter.
Long Term Goal: Iron Man before I'm 30
Short Term Goal: Run a 5K (no walking)
Run a half-marathon
Climb Stone Mountain 10 Times
Run a Marathon
SW: 185 | CW: 195 | GW: 155 | UGW: 140
Tell me a bit about yourself and create a powerful snapshot.
My name is Heather and I define myself through my job and my hobbies. I spend a lot of my time telling myself to just get through “this,” (a stressful time at work, a bout of depression, an uncomfortable social setting, etc) and when it’s over I can do “that,” (take a vacation, enjoy life again, disappear into solo hobbies, etc.). I often wish I was better at things, prettier or more adept in areas I want to grow.
Current Chronological Age: 34
Height in Inches: 5′10
Weight in Lbs: 217.4
BMI: 31.1
Current Waist Circumference: 46.5
Allergies: Seasonal
Current Meds: Effexor, Wellbutrin, Singular, Zantac, Adderall
Current Illnesses: Collapsed Gallbladder, depression, anxiety, ADD
On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your physical health in teh following areas
Weight Status: 3
Eating Habits: 1
Physical Activity: 1
Sleeping: 8
Relaxation: 1
Safe & Healthy Surroundings: 9
Total 23/60
Describe your current physical health.
I have all the knowledge and skills to manage my weight effectively but rarely have the motivation or will power to stay on track. I often lack energy especially in the mornings and depend on caffeine to keep myself focused and alert. Before starting Optavia, I was living on Coffee and energy drinks and block cheese with wheat thins, supplementing with fast food when I actually felt hungry. I don’t do physically activity often, maybe on some weekends with a meet up group but not consistently. I get 7 or more hours of sleep every night and have no trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. I still wake up groggy and don’t want to get out of bed. I can power through stress but at a huge detriment to my mental and physical health. The majority of my stressors are out of my control for the most part - debt, work schedule, living situation, global pandemic - however I regularly see a therapist to try and manage this. I have removed most unhealthy food from my workplace and house but do not want to throw away the few items I have left - energy drinks, sodas not on plan, flavored drinks - and only partake in these items once a week if at all. I get regular medical checkups
On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your mental health in the following areas
most relationships: 6
Attitude at Work: 8
Meaning and Purpose: 1
Spirituality Time: 1
Community Service: 1
Hobbies/Fun: 7
Total: 24/60
Describe your current mental health.
I have some deep and meaningful relationships with friends and family though at the moment most of them FEEL strained even if they actually aren’t. I love my job and what I do but I struggle to stay on task. I believe I can accomplish whatever I put my mind and body to but lack will power. I am not very hopeful or optimistic about the future but I never really have been. I do act thoughtfully on my emotions when they arise. I am resilient and learn from my past, almost detrimentally to my current state. I don’t really feel like i have meaning or purpose though I never have and do enjoy small pleasures of life. I believe in fated freewill, which allows you to make choices but the outcomes of all choices are predetermined and if you’re not following your intended path life you’re prone to suffering and bad luck. I don’t do community service. My hobbies are still fun but have also become stressful and demanding.
On a scale of 1 to 10 rate your financial health in the following areas
abundance: 1
resources to minimize stress: 1
money management: 5
money to do what I want: 4
resources to create memories/experiences: 4
Community Contribution: 3
Total: 18/60
Describe your current financial health.
I finally believe I have what it takes to know that with gratitude, hard work and direction I can bring what I want into my life. I try to do good deeds for others that are unexpected. I have very little resources and still have to spend my days worrying about how I will pay my bills if something drastic happens to me financially. My finances control me. I have virtually no discretionary income. I don’t have the resources to travel and rarely am able to attend events with frieinds.I dedicate some resources to give to my favorite content creators.
What is your cumulative score for your physical, mental and financial health?
65/180 Poor.
What stands out to you?
Nothing in particular I’ve known I’m in a bad state for awhile.
Were your scores as you expected? In what areas were you higher or lower?
My mental health was higher than expected.
Was only able to get to the gym once this week but I passed a milestone while I was there! I was able to complete push ups at the tallest box position doing 5 sets of 10. I'll now move on to the middle height box for pushups. I was also able to do 5 sets of 10 on inverted rows (I think that's what they're called. We use gymnastic rings to pull ourselves from a 45 degree angle to standing). I've been walking around for the past three days with my arms jutted out and can only completely straighten my arms if I forcefully lock my elbow using my opposite hand. Ah progress haha.
I also finally got my meal plan which I will be starting on Monday. It's a zone type diet plan and doesn't look too terribly hard. The nutritionist even made me preplanned meals that fulfill my block plans so I can just follow the recipes. Idiot proof which is good for me. I have to follow it to the letter for 2 weeks so she can see how I do and if we need to make any adjustments.
Rounding out my first week back at fitness was bumpy.
Thursday I was supposed to do another foundations class but I forgot my stupid sports bra so I took the Organic Strength class instead. Everyone else had been taking that class for awhile or had at least been going to that gym for awhile so they were transitioning into doing headstands. I basically laid on the floor for the entire hour. I think I'm just going to stick with the Foundations class for the next month or so to build up strength. Organic fitness seems really cool but isn't going to do much for me until I get stronger.
Today I was able to get my walk in for the first time. My blueprint says I should be walking for an hour pretty much everyday but given my batshit work schedule I am never home during daylight hours. I was able to elliptical Wednesday night (didn't get home until 10 pm but did it anyway kudos to me) but the other days were a bust. I'm going to try and start doing it in the morning but honestly there's a fat chance of that happening when I usually don't get home until 10 or 11 most nights.
Here's some advice kids, if you're thinking about going into retail design, don't. August to December are batshit insane and you will be working 12 to 14 hour days everyday for almost half the year and you will grow to loathe Christmas.
Kettle Bell callus in the making! I'm really enjoying the new gym. Progress is slow and I'm not really doing much besides learning how to do all these things. My hamstrings are feeling it and tonight my butt is feeling it more than my back which is an improvement. My first class was last night with Josh and he taught me how to use a kettle bell for the first time which is freakin complicated holy crap! You're basically swinging a 40 lb cannon ball into your crotch and trying not to let the momentum throw you forward or backward. Felt it a little this morning mostly in my hamstrings. Tonight I did foundations with Shane and another girl who was there for her first class. She caught on to kettle bell a lot faster than I did. He had us do more actual workout things which was good but also bad because man I'm out of shape. But it makes me want to work harder to get back to where I was. Day off tomorrow (from the gym anyway I have to walk for an hour still) then I'm going to do their organic strength class on Thursday which is like beginner gymnastics for adults. They're also going to work on my nutrition plan which I REALLY need.
Well not really the dead but it feels that way. Today I joined a stupid expensive gym because I won't throw that kind of money down the drain by simply not going. It's Blueprint Fitness in ATL and it's basically a group personal training type deal. They have other classes as well but right now I'm just super focused on getting into a routine and putting in work. I have my initial assessment on Monday where we do the whole weighing and measuring thing plus making sure I can move around the way I need to. Then hopefully I can start classes Monday evening or Tuesday. Short Term Goals: • Gym 3-4 times a week • Lose 20lbs as fast (but healthy!) as possible so I can start running again • Hit my goal weight (160ish) by Memorial Day 2015 for my 10 Year High School Reunion • Participate in the Gate 15k in March 2015
Well here's attempt number two this year at getting my weight back on track. I'm heavy now. Heavier than I've ever been. On Friday I weighed in at 207. I had to buy new clothes because literally nothing I owned fit me. Annoyed.
Last week I started walking at Stone Mountain. 3 miles every day and 5 miles on Friday. It's great just schlubbing along listening to an audiobook but watching all of these people run past me is frustrating. I wish I could run but at this weight it's seriously too hard on my body. I thought I was maybe being a sissy about it so I tried running today and went about a tenth of a mile before feeling like my shin bones were going to break.
My goal is to lose 10 lbs and then try again. I didn't start running last time until I was around 175 but I really REALLY doing want to wait that long.
So I guess here's to new beginnings and sticking to them
I am literally that person in every race I run. Once I'm within spitting distance of the finish line I kick it into high gear and usually pass three or four people lollygagging their way towards it.
In fact at the dawg jog, I heard a woman talking to her friends as we were hanging around the finish saying "I saw her run past me but i just didn't have it in me. Like you take it."
I've been on vacation in my home town for the past several days for my moms birthday and ALL I have been thinking about is going to the gym or working out which really excites me. My motivation is back and I'm really ready to get this weight down again. I lost about 4.5 lbs last week just from being a little more food conscious and working out. I'm sure a lot of that was water weight but it's REALLY encouraging to see the scale start to go down. I'm looking in to doing a couples 5k here in southern Illinois in March. It started out as a joke because the race sheet was so offensive with their "COUPLES RACE EXAMPLES: HUSBAND/WIFE, FATHER/DAUGHTER, MOTHER/SON" like they're going out of their way to exclude same sex couples or something. I posted as such on Facebook and now several girls want to get a group together and run as lesbians just to piss off the CIS idiots running the race. So there's that to look forward to haha
So yeah it's been forever. Here's a little of what's happened since I've been away.
+ spent 7 months on anti-depressants that worked for the first two weeks and then slowly caused me to spiral into a state of utter uselessness. I'm talking going to bed at 7 pm every night, arriving late to work because I couldn't pull myself out of bed in time, only eating when I felt like I was going to pass out from not and only eating things that came out of a package or from a drive thru window, and showering maybe twice a week. Maybe. Lesson learned? I don't have the time or money to figure out the right meds for me right now. So I'm off them and for the first time in probably five months I feel like a normal human being.
+ gained 40 lbs due to above habits (plus the medication I was on had a weight gain side effect so double whammy).
+ made peace with my body. I've discovered that the only thing I seriously dislike about having gained my weight back is that none of my clothes fit anymore haha. And when shopping for clothes I have a really hard time finding things that fit me right. I think this also has a little bit to do with a body dismorphic thing because I don't see a difference in my body whether i'm at 200 lbs or 160 lbs. Probably because my body slims down the same all over. So I have the same shape just smaller and since I have a belly like a bowl full of jelly I focus on that and nothing else.
And that's it. 7 months and three bullet points. I'm angry that I didn't realize what was happening sooner. I'm miffed I lost a lot of progress but I'm glad that I accidentally weened myself off the meds (being too lazy to actually take them was the only thing that got me out of it I'm pretty sure). Looking back I feel like I managed my depression well enough on my own and working out was a HUGE proponent in that.
So I'm back at it. I signed up for a Biggest Loser Challenge at Pinnacle Fitness, a local Boot Camp gym, and was able to get a month of unlimited classes for $40. I loved boot camp and want to keep with it. I'm hoping that I'll be able to afford to keep going once the promotion is over. I've also been going to the gym in the mornings with my fitness guru Jacey.
Goals for the forseeable future
+ get down to a weight that I can run at - my hips, knees and ankles can't handle me running at 200 lbs. I need to lose at least 20 lbs before I can start running again
+ START RUNNING AGAIN. I'm hoping that I can shed these 20 relatively quickly (within 2 to 3 months) and then I can start running my beloved Stone Mountain route again.
+ Cook more. I love cooking and it's so much easier to control calories and salt and whatnot when you make it yourself
+ blog more. I want to use this blog not just for fitness goals but to kind of keep a running tally of everyday life. So you might see some boring life posts here as well as fitnessy things
Hi there! My username is splendidlysarah and I’ve lost a total of 20 pounds so far (my real “before” weight was 170 pounds haha). My goal weight is 135, but I have a feeling that when I get to that point, I’ll want to continue. I started with running on the treadmill, then 30 Day Shred, and now I’m on Insanity (Month 2). It’s a killer. Anyhoo, I obtained this body through healthy eating and exercise for four months, and I plan to continue for the rest of my life :)
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Follow here for before and afters every day and follow here for weight loss questions, answers, and discussions!
Finally decided to share my before and after photo. It’s really embarrassing to show my before photo, it was taken at my highest weight and I can’t even believe that I let myself go that far.
Before: around 85 kg
After/during: 63 kg
Height: 170 cm
It took me around 5 months to accomplish this by eating healthy and doing a lot of sport (spinning in particular!). Before that I was fighting with binge eating disorder for YEARS. For anyone with that disorder, I want to tell you it IS possible to overcome it, no matter how desperate you feel!
I maintained that weight for about a year but have gained a couple of kgs back recently. By showing this photo I want to motivate myself again and remind myself how far I have come. I still have a long way to go, I just have to remember that I AM capable of doing this!
